The launch of the International Genomics of Alzheimer's Project (IGAP) - a collaboration formed to discover and map the genes that contribute to Alzheimer's disease - was announced today by a multi-national group of researchers. The collaborative effort, spanning universities from both Europe and the United States, will combine the knowledge, staff and resources of four consortia that conduct research on Alzheimer's disease genetics.

The four groups are:

-- The European Alzheimer's Disease Initiative (EADI) in France led by Philippe Amouyel, MD, PhD, at the Institute Pasteur de Lille and Lille University;

-- The Alzheimer's Disease Genetics Consortium (ADGC) from the United States led by Gerald Schellenberg, PhD, at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine;

--The Genetic and Environmental Risk in Alzheimer's Disease (GERAD) from the United Kingdom led by Julie Williams, PhD, at Cardiff University;

--The neurology subgroup of the Cohorts for Heart and Aging in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) led by Sudha Seshadri, MD, at Boston University.

"Identification of genes that contribute to Alzheimer's risk and that influence the progression of disease will help lead us to the cause of the disease, identify proteins and other new targets for drug development, and provide genetic methods for determining which people are at greatest risk for Alzheimer's disease when preventative measures become available, " said Dr. Schellenberg